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( spoilers for Demon's Bond, Ikemen Sengoku and Samurai Love Ballad )

In other news, I did end up choosing the Hideyoshi route to do next in Samurai Love Ballad. Currently it is meeting expectations, he is being very cute and seductive and (mercifully) not breaking my heart *at all*. Maybe this route will give me a chance to catch my breath. I took a look at the Mitsuhide route and it seems well-suited to my tastes, he's all about honor and duty and quiet obedience until he (historical spoiler) assassinates Nobunaga because he deserves it. But let me give myself a break first. Hideyoshi looks like someone I will enjoy being seduced by and not overidentify with, and that sounds nice right now.

...which was happier than I expected it to be.

( Spoilers. CN: religion. )

I was thinking of doing Hideyoshi's route next, because Mitsunari's routes gave me some very strong feelings about him. He's a cute, charismatic charmer who has had one thousand lovers and whose life strategy seems to be to get everyone in the world to fall in love with him and do whatever he wants at any possible cost to themselves. But he is so cute and charming that damnit, I'm compelled, and maybe I wouldn't mind being number one thousand and one.

But, I think I should step back and do one of the main routes first. Either Nobunaga or Mitsuhide.

Today is the day that I have to choose my ending and I am dithering about it. One thing I like about this game is that for characters who were killed in history you get to choose if you want the historical ending or an AU happy ending. I was planning all along to choose the AU but now that I am here I'm not sure, I think I might need a good cathartic cry more than a wish fulfillment fantasy.

So I will delay by writing some thoughts about the game and the routes so far.

The game mechanics are very similar to Ikemen Sengoku: half a chapter a day for free, some upsells for premium routes. The big difference is that it is *much* easier to get free or cheap extra chapter tickets and such. Also the premium routes are word for word identical, you just get a cg. I've spent some money on it, but this is more out of a sense that this is a very good game and I want to give it money than out of any real necessity.

Another big difference: some characters have two routes and the second starts when you are already in an established relationship. I finished Mitsunari's first route and then immediately started his second route, which I am near the end of now.

In terms of content: the characters are much darker. There may be LIs in this universe who aren't terrible people but if so I haven't met them. I guess if they weren't terrible they'd be doing something other than warmongering. But they are all interestingly terrible and terrible in different ways.

Also, this game assumes that same-sex relationships exist in this universe, and you get references to past m/m relationships for LIs. Which is nice.

These routes been very emotionally affecting, to the point that I've had a hard time writing about them. There's a lot in them to engage with, both intellectually and emotionally, and sometimes no clear resolution.

( Spoilers. CN: painful gender issues. )

ETA: I went with the AU happy ending. So far I'm glad I did.

Why yes I do have three app games going on my phone right now. No this is not sustainable, but I like all of them and they are each easy to play for only a few minutes a day.

Anyway, Scarlet Fate is a romance fantasy historical set in the Heian era. The protagonist is a princess who is also a priestess. She takes both parts of her job very seriously and seems to be very good at them. Part of her job is to guard a sword that can bring about the end of the world. In the prologue, we hear a prophecy that the end of the world is fast approaching, so clearly her being good at her job will be very important. She also has, for reasons we don't yet know, a lot of guilt and a lot of anger. And she's an exceptionally good fighter.

The first love interest that we meet is a demon in wolf form who is rescued by the Princess and shortly after turns into a handsome man. In Demon's Bond, I felt like it helped a lot that I did the routes in order. Since this is the same company and has a similar feel I thought I should do the same, but I ended up being completely compelled by a different love interest: the super-annoying guy she happens to be engaged to, who calls her 'wife' from their very first scene. Although he's rude and arrogant and they don't like each other very much they have a lot of mutual respect, he supports her leadership and isn't threatened by all her other significant relationships with men (including the cute guy she rescued) and she takes his learning and expertise seriously without feeling like she has to do whatever he says. They also make an awesome battle couple.

I've been thinking I've wanted to see a historical otome that *doesn't* impose modern ideas of marriage and romance...I'm not sure if this is exactly that, but I do like the idea of a protagonist who has other choices choosing to go along with an arranged marriage to someone she respects but doesn't love because she's okay with marriage working that way. I'm only in the second chapter but we'll see how it does.

I think I've made peace with the payment structure for this game. There are lots of things to spend money on but they are mostly not worth it. The premium scenes are nice, but it's the same events, just more graphically described. Early in the route that means more detailed descriptions of the attraction/UST, at the end it means a more graphically described sex scene. So, not really essential. I got two of the early ones, for a total of $8, and that felt like the right number and a reasonable price for a route. I feel like if I love a character enough to play through both the Romantic and the Dramatic routes I can always buy more of the premium scenes the second time around, since they are mostly the same in the two routes.

My hunch is that Mitsunari was really not the right character to start this game with, as he seemed intended to be the fluff break between angstfests in other routes. Mitsunari in this game is a pure, perfect angel of a man who is too honest, gentle and kind for this world and for his violent times. The plot, such as it was, was about him learning to live in a messy world and find love in it. It was also about fighting wars using brains rather than strength, and with as little violence as possible, and while trying above all to save lives. In other words, feel-good fluff very well targeted to my particular tastes. I am definitely curious about the choice to do this with a historical figure who is usually written as a nasty piece of work. (As he was in Demon's Bond, to be fair, for all his lovability in Kazutake's route.) I am not sure if this is very clever or very random, and I'm still thinking about it.

Since that was so fluffy I've just started the Ieyasu route, and apparently he is both tsundere and yandere. Should be fun.

I'm also most of the way though the Mitsunari route in Samurai Love Ballad. This game is somewhat more to my taste, everyone is terrible and it's more deeply connected to the history. This Mitsunari is super-interesting on a lot of levels and I'll write a post about him when I'm done with the route.

I'm definitely committed to both games, there's nothing I love better in a game than being able to date people from all sides of a historical conflict. And playing two of them at once gives me enough to read that I don't mind only getting half a chapter of each game every day. Plus it is super-fun to get these dramatically different interpretations of the same character.

This is what I did this morning:
1. Got fed up at not being able to read fannish content because I ran afoul of tumblr's safe search.
2. Signed up for a tumblr *just* so I could read with safe search turned off.
3. Looked for tutorials about how to turn off safe search.
4. Couldn't find the on/off switch for safe search. It seems that it was disabled. I put in my age as 47 when I signed up, could it be that tumblr misread that as 17???
5. Deleted the tumblr I had just signed up for

I may try again one day. That day is not today. I will have to get my NC-47 unsafe content elsewhere.

Someone was kind enough to put all the CGs here:
https://kumoriyami-xiuzhen.tumblr.com/post/188003782132/tsukikage-record-of-service-screenshots

Now I have to live with knowing that
1. There is new Sanan-related content. Lots of it. Also for Okita, Hijikata and Kazama.
2. It may be years before I find out what it is. Unless someone writes a summary? (::sends wish into the fannish ether::)

The CGs are very pretty though. Very pretty.

The payment structure is definitely something to get used to. You get five tickets (enough for half a chapter) per day. You can buy more but they get pricey fast. Then every few chapters you have a choice between premium and normal stories, and if you buy all the premium stories it also gets pricey fast. So far I did one premium story and one normal story and I liked them both. I think you get the same story content in both, you just get more elaborate descriptions in the premium story. Then there are skill checks that you can pass by grinding but you can also get buffs by spending money. So it seems like the way to play is: log in once a day, read half a chapter, do a few grindy tasks, close the app and come back tomorrow.

As far as the story itself ( very minor spoilers, also for the Kazutake route in Demon's Bond )

I expect the other routes will be different. The one I most have my eye on is the vengeful warrior monk. His route isn't out yet but he seems like my type, especially since he seems to be the antagonist in many routes.

In browsing around for another thing to play that I can play on my schedule I found Shall We Date: Scarlet Fate. Which is like Demon's Bond in that it is: 1. Also historical 2. Also by Otomate 3. Also seems to be more Themes and Plot than fanservice-y romance 4. Also pay-per-route. This seems to be a collection of things that I like, so I've downloaded it and will check out the prologue when I get a chance.

One of the feeeelings that Demon's Bond left me with was extreme sadness that I couldn't rescue Mitsunari and run off with him because it's not that kind of game. But then I realized: of course I can. I just had to move to a different game, that is ALL ABOUT saving Sengoku warlords and running off with them.

The premise: 21st century fashion designer is swept back into the warring states period, where she immediately saves Oda Nobunaga's life. She then very quickly meets a large number of different dateable guys, who all immediately flirt with her. They include many warlords and also a physics student who specializes in handwavium and who also went back in time. The prologue introduces you to a lot of people very quickly so there isn't time to really get to know any of them before picking a route. I was a little tempted to pick Oda Nobunaga because he's the one we spent the most time with in the prologue so maybe he was the one the game was pushing as the default choice. But, I know who I'm here for.

This version of Mitsunari is unfortunately not very much like the Demon's Bond version, but he seems interesting in his own way. He's kind, bookish, more than a little clueless, and tries to be respectful of the protagonist. I'm curious to see how the route goes. I'll probably start with the Romantic route first. So far the game is VERY SILLY but I understand the stories get good eventually.

I do not AT ALL like the game mechanics with the princess lessons and glam-offs. I am going to as much as possible just pay for a route with money and see how that works and how much it ends up costing. I spent $20 on in-game coins and if that doesn't get me through a route I'm going to be a little annoyed.

ETA: $20 is going to be nowhere near enough to just buy a route outright. Just to get all the premium stories is $27 for one route ($36 if I want both the dramatic and romantic routes). And that's *still* doing all the grind-y tasks to get through the route itself. Buying enough chapter tickets to just pay for the route would be an unrealistic $130 (for one route!) plus if I don't want to grind I'd need to buy enough potions and stuff to pass stat checks and I have no idea how much that would cost.

On the other hand the routes can be done for free if you're willing to read a little each day, do the (not unpleasant) grindy tasks and read the normal scenes instead of the premium scenes.

So I will have to figure out what is worth paying for, which looks like it will be complicated.

...after rewatching a bunch of my favorite scenes. This is definitely my favorite route, btw, although Chitose and Kazuya are a close tie for second. And really none of the routes work that well in isolation, it's the differences between them that make the game.

( shippy squee, tiny meta on enemyshipping, spoilers )

So I think I am In Ship enough that I might have to commit fic. Which is laughable, since the Demon's Bond fandom tag on AO3 has 3 fics in it, all crossovers, and this might be the least-read fic I'd ever write. But it might be worth it.

I liked it a lot. It was a classic redemption by love arc, and I always love those, but if you don't it might not be your thing. It reminded me in some ways of the Sanan route, so clearly relevant to my interests.

( Spoilers for the route and Yukina's backstory )

( eta a few more notes on the Senkimaru route, including flashback ending )

And oh look, someone put the game *with voice acting* online here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLliolnJYNB75bqVfDFi58Q/playlists

I think I'm going to be making heavy use of this, since the game doesn't give me a straightforward way to rewatch favorite scenes. And the voice acting definitely adds.

( major spoiler (that I am kicking myself for not having figured out a long time ago )

Unsurprisingly, I liked the flashback ending slightly better.

( spoilers to the end of the route, including flashback ending )

Ok, on to the Senkimaru route next.

...which is very rapidly growing on me.

( spoilers for all routes )

Shin himself is growing on me but the romance is not. Also Kazutake's route retroactively got a lot worse, as did this game's worldbuilding.

( spoilers for Shin's route. cn: forced prostitution, and I can't *believe* I had to write that for this game wtf )

I found a fairly detailed summary here:
https://ancientshining.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/toki-no-kizuna-hanayui-tsuzuri/
Yep, it has all the romance that the original game was lacking.

Reactions:
( spoilers for all routes )

So far I've done the Chitose, Kazuya and Kazutake route, and I'm two chapters into the Shin route. Thoughts so far:

( spoilers for all routes, including flashback endings )

Hunh, I seem to have produced yet another fic. This one deals with some of the same themes as the previous one but from a bit of a different angle:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946509

It's set on the Sanan route after the first blood drinking. Very shippy, very dubcon-y, and rated E for being the most graphic thing I've written in the fandom yet.

( notes )

Welp, here I am in a new journal. We'll see how it goes and if/how I end up using it.

Having a new name did help me feel less anxious about producing fic, which I suppose was part of the point. So here it is, Sanan/Chizuru, set towards the end of the Sanan route, after their first kiss and before the last battle, rated M for moderately graphic sex:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19857739

( a few thoughts about that fic )